by Bryn Bauer
Helena stopped and Sofia followed her into a beautiful cabin. Sumptuous in every appointment, the room was decorated in Helena’s signature green which offset the brilliance of the blue ocean view. While Sofia’s eyes roamed around the room noting their fine taste in art, Helena went to a built in chest and unlocked one of the drawers. Pulling out a black velvet reticule, Helena motioned for Sofia to sit at a small breakfast table near the window. Helena gently tipped the contents on the green and white chevron table cloth and winked at Sofia.
“Before we talk about these items, do you still have the stiletto?” Sofia was expecting the question and answered by drawing it from the underside of her chignon. Helena nodded. “Good. Keep it on your person at all times. Even in the shower, even when you sleep.” Sofia had planned on keeping it with her anyway, but Helena’s warning only confirmed her intuition. Helena then turned her attention to the items on the table. First she prodded a pair of emerald stud earrings that were about two carats and of the highest quality.
“Tracking devices?” asked Sofia
“Of course. But these are a bit different than the ones we’ve used so far. Look at the backs.”
Sofia examined the backs to find they were constructed much like clothing security tags on a miniature scale. Helena continued, “These will be permanently in your ear. Well, until I use the magnetic key to remove them.”
Sofia tried to joke, “Are you afraid that I’ll lose them?”
Helena smiled appreciatively and said, “If something does happen, earrings are the most difficult thing to remove. Other jewelry can be quickly taken, but an assailant wastes precious time removing earrings, especially these.”
“They would basically have to rip them out.” Sofia said.
“Right, but most won’t take the time. We’ll be monitoring every minute.” Then she gave Sofia the smartphone. “This phone is also a tracker, but it’s mainly a decoy. We’ve set it up to look like a Koury Communications phone. It’s not linked to us, except by actually calling our cell numbers.” Sofia was disappointed; she expected a little more razzle dazzle. With her usual knack of intuiting Sofia’s thoughts, Helena said, “Don’t worry, there’s a surprise here.” Then she pointed to the jack where one would normally insert headphones. “In here is an aerosolized version of pepper spray, only a little more powerful. If you need it, just squeeze the phone and it will release the spray.” Looking closer Sofia saw that the phone was actually in two pieces like a powder compact.
“That’s genius.” Sofia said to Helena
“Well, the only problem is that you can’t aim the spray all that well so you should be prepared to get a blast of it unless you cover your nose and mouth.
“Is this another generous gift from Mr. Winston?”
Helena straightened up and lifted her chin. “No, this one is my invention.” Sofia was impressed and said so. After Helena put the earrings on her, Sofia headed to her cabin to pack for her short stay at Castro’s estate. She had just shut the door when a soft rap sounded. She cracked the door to find Quint standing with his hands in his trouser pockets. She opened the door fully and stood aside to let him in.
“I didn’t mean to bother you; I just wanted to let you know that we’re going to be supporting and monitoring you the whole time. Tomorrow morning all three of us will be at the estate for meetings so we’ll be in close proximity, then we’ll be taking shifts and-“
Sofia stopped the stream of conversation with her fingers on his mouth.
“I know you will do everything you can to protect me. I’m not worried.” This was of course patently untrue, but if Quint got nervous, she would start shaking with anxiety and she was absolutely not going to do that. For once, he couldn’t or didn’t read her mind.
His arm came around her waist, strong and warm as he said, “I’m extremely impressed. You have nerves of steel; I think you were born for this kind of work.”
She looked up at him and gave an ironic laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far. I haven’t actually finished the assignment yet. But, Quint, I am enjoying it. I feel ready for this even though I don’t know exactly what will happen.” He drew her close enough to smell the sea in his hair and on his skin.
“See what I mean? You were made for this.” His lips brushed hers as he drew her even closer to deepen the kiss. The emotional dam Sofia built broke and a torrent of feeling came rushing forward. As his hands moved over her body, she felt herself responding, urging him. In answer, he picked Sofia up and laid her on the cloud-like bedspread. His lips trailed down her cheek and neck while his hands laid open her shirt. At the same time, Sofia explored the sun baked flesh beneath his shirt, firm and lean. She turned her head to allow his lips greater access to her neck. She opened her eyes to see the red-gold sunset outside. Sunset! She gasped and stiffened.
“Quint, stop, please.” He didn’t stop. She tried to push him, “Quint. Stop!” He looked up; the alarm on his face reflected her own. She tried to clutch her blouse closed across her exposed breasts.
Misinterpreting this gesture Quint held Sofia by the shoulders, his need barely held in check. “Sofia, I don’t want this to be a fling. I want to be with you. I won’t talk about this with Joe or Helena; I wouldn’t do that to you.”
She forced herself to focus on him. “That’s not it. I mean, that’s not the only reason. I gave my word to Joe and Helena about staying professional and I mean to keep it.” She turned to the setting sun. “And look, it’s nearly sunset. Castro’s driver will be here in a few minutes.” She heard her voice rising in alarm. “I don’t have anything ready. Please, I need a clear mind going into this.” She stared at him, beseeching him to understand. Quint stood up and took Sofia’s hand to help her to her feet.
He gave her a firm kiss and said, “Then I’ll help you get ready.” Quint began gathering the now scattered clothing and folding them for packing.
FOURTEEN
Upon arriving at the estate, a young handsome aide escorted Sofia to a lavish room as big as her entire apartment in Charleston. She wandered to the double doors and opened them onto the balcony. She let the warm breeze waft over her. Sofia heard the aide behind her. “Apologies, Miss Koury. The President is indisposed this evening and will miss dining with you. I will be happy to bring you anything you’d like from the kitchen.”
Trying not to show her disappointment, Sofia placed her order for a light supper and began hanging her clothes for the following day. She had only brought one suit, knowing that her time was limited. She only had one day to accomplish her task.
Sofia spent the rest of her evening coaxing forth an ingenious plan. Originally, she planned to get him to the car after dinner. Tonight hadn’t gone to plan, nothing had so far. The thought brought echoes of her father’s voice, “Be adaptable Sofia, we must always be adaptable. Nothing in life ever goes as planned.”
Sofia smiled ruefully and thought, for once we agree. After her dinner plates were empty and the sun had long since set, Sofia got up from the antique carved desk, exhausted. She still didn’t have any firm plan. She padded in sock feet to the suite’s bathroom, discarding clothing as she went. No matter how the day had gone, Sofia always felt better when changing into her linen nightshirt. It always made her feel as if she were shedding the day, and all that had happened...or not happened. She was lost in this thought as she placed her bracelet and ring on a small towel along with the phone and stiletto hair pin. She shimmied into the nightshirt and picked up a washcloth when a loud bang made her gasp and whirl to face the room.
The tightness in her chest eased when she saw that the balcony doors had swung open and hit the walls. The wind had picked up outside and Sofia had not yet closed them. She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath to restore her pulse to its normal rhythm then crossed the room to close the doors. As she latched the doors, she caught her reflection in the glass, tousle-haired and disheveled. Then she saw the bathroom light flicker as if something passed in front of it. Sofia pivoted to face the bath
room, her eyes scanning the empty space. There was nothing. Her eyes and ears strained for any hint of something out of place, but all was quiet except for the ocean wind outside. She made her way back to the bathroom, once again calm but still alert for noises.
Sofia wet the washcloth with warm water and held it to her face letting the steam ease the tension. Slowly, she became aware of a sickeningly sweet smell, cloying in her nostrils. At the same time she felt more and more light headed as though she were drunk. She let the cloth drop from her face, and tried to grab the sink in order to prevent herself from falling over. As she reached out though, the smell pressed to her face and her arms were pinioned to her body with painful strength. Alarm bells pierced the fog in her brain, Chloroform! She held her breath to avoid inhaling any more. In chemistry class in college, they studied dangerous substances, chloroform being one of them. Though her lungs were tight with need for air, she knew breathing in the sweet substance would have her unconscious within seconds.
She couldn’t see well with the pressure of the pad, but she could see the sink. With a massive effort she threw her weight backwards and braced her feet against the sink, bending her knees. Her lungs craved air but she forced herself to keep holding her breath. She used her remaining oxygen to push backwards off of the sink with all her strength. From biking every day, the strength in her legs was substantial and she sent her assailant hurtling back onto the floor. Sofia landed with a loud thud on her back, on top of her attacker. She rolled off as quickly as she could and struggled to her hands and knees through the fog.
She gasped, gulping fresh air which was forcing the gas from her lungs and bloodstream. Sofia saw the man’s boot clad feet twitch and heard him begin to recover. Quickly she looked up and saw the bathroom only a few feet away. She had to get to the phone and stiletto! Why had she taken them off?! She began to scramble to her feet when a large hand grabbed her ankle and yanked it out from under her. Her chin cracked onto the tile floor and Sofia felt a stab of electric pain and hot, wet blood smear her skin. She vaguely wondered if her jaw had been broken. Recovering slightly as the hand began to pull her away from the bathroom; Sofia flexed her legs and then all at once kicked out. The hands faltered on her leg just long enough for Sofia to kick out again, breaking the grip. She jumped to her feet and began running to the bathroom, only ten feet away.
The man caught up to her in the doorway just as she was reaching out for the towel which held her precious tools. The force of his attack sent both of them hurtling into the sink. Sofia let out a shriek of pain as her hip slammed into the granite countertop. She closed her eyes and covered her face as the man’s head smashed into the mirror, sending shards of razor sharp glass raining down. She almost didn’t feel the lacerations on her arms and chest. Sofia was intent on the tools. She grabbed for them and felt her fingers close around the rectangular shape of the phone and the cool shaft of the hair pin.
Her attacker righted himself and she had no time to draw the stiletto. In one motion she grabbed the towel from the sink, dropped the phone onto the floor and stamped on it. Immediately a jet of pepper spray dispersed into the air. Sofia heard the man roar in pain as she ran; eyes closed, and hand over her nose and mouth out of the bathroom. The shards of mirror pierced her feet as she ran to the balcony but she dare not stop, despite the pain. Sofia threw the doors open and lept onto a palm that leaned on the railing. She couldn’t risk going out of the room’s door and down the hallway for fear of being spotted. She prayed that no one had heard the commotion. She had no idea what was going on, but she didn’t want anyone to know about it until she could tell Helena, Quint and Joe. Who could have done this? Castro? That seemed possible but unlikely. Had he found out her agenda after all? Sofia half climbed, half fell the fifteen feet down the palm to the ground and began picking her way to the outer security wall as quickly as she could.
Sofia crept along the outer wall looking for any means of escape. During her monitoring shifts aboard the Mariana, she had seen only one blind spot in the security cameras’ sweeping gaze of the grounds. Her only option was to cover the last few hundred feet to the drainage gate. The brick around this gate had been significantly weakened during a recent hurricane. She thought there was just enough space to squeeze through. As she moved towards the tiny gate, Sofia realized her footprints left a blood trail and she took pains to walk in the mud where at least the spots would be camouflaged. Though, she knew that if it came to a search, the dogs would have no trouble picking up the scent.
Sofia’s heart pumped violently, picking up a sound before her brain registered it. She froze and pressed against the rough stucco and stone wall. She heard it again, closer. It was nothing more than the sense of a shift in the air, the rustle of dead palm fronds and braced for the qualm of alarm down her spine. Instead, all that came was a calm focus. After a few moments of straining, listening and waiting, Sofia crept forward. She knew the drainage gate lay around the next curve in the wall. Almost there. The thought formed as half fact, half prayer. Once through, she could make her way down to the Mariana. Instinctively, she checked behind her. Nobody followed.
As Sofia turned, a large hand clapped over her mouth from behind and a strong forearm pinned her elbows to her side. Tired though she was, Sofia’s adrenaline glands went haywire. She stiffened and jerked. She brought her elbow up and thrust it back targeting her assailant’s solar plexus just as Quint taught her. He was ready for it though. He reared back and because the force of her thrust was weakened, it elicited no more than a grunt. She continued to grapple but stopped dead when he hissed, “Sofia, stop. It’s me.”
She spun on her heel and stared at Quint, barely more than a dark stain against the night sky. “Quint.” Her voice broke. It was all she could force out.
“Shhh. Come on.” He herded Sofia behind him and led her to the gate, keeping watch as she squeezed through the dog sized opening. She stood numb as Quint came through and stood before her. Her head swiveled back and forth, her eyes wide with alarm. No car. How did Quint get here? She thought as he began leading her to the street.
“Helena and Joe don’t exactly know that I’m here. I finished my shift on the screens but I was worried and wanted to be here, just in case. I heard a noise and came in to see if it was you. Obviously it was.” He stopped and gazed at her in the weak street light. It was the first time he had been able to see her properly. “My God Sofia.” Quint brought her closer to him, surprised by what he saw. “What happened?”
Sofia shook her head. She couldn’t talk about it just yet. Instead she nodded to the street and said, “We need to get out of sight. Where’s the car?” To hide her emotion, she looked away from Quint’s penetrating gaze under the guise of searching for a car. Quint narrowed his eyes at her. He wasn’t fooled, but kept silent. He turned and continued to lead her down the street and then behind a low palm. An old rusted motorcycle peeked from behind the branches. Quint and Sofia mounted the bike and, after checking for followers, Quint started the ancient machine and sped down the narrow alley toward the harbor.
Sofia was grateful for the roar of the engine which prevented conversation. She wanted a few minutes that wouldn’t involve thinking, planning or explanation. She knew she could trust Quint, but somehow she felt as though she’d let herself down with her missteps. First, she had made no progress on her task and didn’t even have a real plan. Then she had allowed herself to be caught off guard, without her weapons. Weapons that Helena had told her to carry at all times. She gave herself permission to wallow in these self-doubts for exactly one minute and then forced her mind to put it aside, difficult as that was. If she were to go back to the estate, which she planned to do, then she had to be ready for anything. She couldn’t do that if she were distracted by her doubts. She had to summon her strength to continue.
By the time Sofia noticed that they had pulled off the road and were headed toward an abandoned barn, Sofia had regained some control. Once in the barn, Quint turned off the engine and dismounte
d. The absence of engine noise and the long held quiet of the barn created a muffling effect in Sofia’s ears like someone had plugged them with cotton. Sofia dismounted, absorbing the comfort from the barn’s quiet earthiness. She knew why Quint had brought her here. He wanted to know what happened. He wanted to talk before they were both restricted by Joe and Helena’s presence. She was touched to know that he wouldn’t be able to hide his emotion in front of them.
She took a deep breath and faced him. His brown eyes locked on hers, showing alarm that vibrated through the rest of his body. He held her shoulders; his hands were tense as a bow string. She thought she only had to give him the slightest touch and she would hear the twang of the arrow’s release. “I need to know what happened. I picked up some strange chatter during my monitoring today and I’m worried that our pretext for you might be coming apart.” Sofia saw the play of emotions on his features, fear, anxiety and something else, deep and instinctive. She stood, breathing hard. Quint shook her slightly and said again “What happened? Tell me!” His anxious energy transferred to Sofia, thrumming through her, swirling in the center of her body.
Without warning, she lunged for him, her fingers twisted in his copper hair, her mouth seeking his. She felt a desperate need to release the anxiety, to release the arrow. He responded with equal need, forcing her back to the hay strewn floor. His hands moved over her body. He felt that he must envelop her, must possess her. If he could cover all of her, he could keep her safe. She raked his back and brought her hips to his, urging him. She was still only wearing her night shift that had torn at the shoulder and now exposed one full breast that seemed to glow in the waning moonlight. Slowly, Quint bent to press his lips to it. His kiss acted as a trigger for their joining though he held himself in check to avoid hurting her. He wanted to avoid tearing tender flesh that already had feared violence. His hesitance only fueled her urging. Sofia wrapped her legs around him forcing him to her. All at once, his restraint snapped and they both found the reassurance they had been seeking.